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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25390654">TWENTY-TWO YEARS</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/heterostraight/pseuds/heterostraight'>heterostraight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hinatazaka46 (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Canon Compliant, F/F, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Reader-Insert, can a fic be canon compliant and reader inserts.. i don't know, theblueslope</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:21:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,618</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25390654</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/heterostraight/pseuds/heterostraight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes love can be between a straight friend and a non-straight friend desperately trying to hide her feelings. Or a straight idol and her non-straight fan.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sasaki Mirei/Reader, Takamoto Ayaka/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. put a little love in it - ayaka/reader</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>KIWI PRESENTS: TWENTY-TWO YEARS TO COMMEMORATE [T]HE [B]ULL [S]HITTING.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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    <p>(Last Name) (First Name) and Takamoto Ayaka are childhood friends who grew up together and get along well despite their vast difference of interests. Unbeknownst to Ayaka, (Y/N) has long harboured a crush on her, and has desperately tried to quell the fire inside her heart. (Y/N) knows full well Ayaka doesn’t look at her that way—she knows of Ayaka’s past crushes and it has always been rambunctious, smelly boys (she’s supportive of her—just doesn’t she what she sees in those monkeys). One day, (Y/N) accidentally lets it slip that she doesn’t like boys the way Ayaka does—and ever since then, Ayaka has been acting strangely.</p>
    <p></p>
    <div class="markup-2BOw-j messageContent-2qWWxC">
      <p><em>Ah</em>, (Y/N) thinks as she nurses the quiet pain in her heart, /she’s disgusted with me, huh/. It’s been two weeks since That Day, (Y/N) remembers—she remembers it was on a hot early July afternoon, them on the way back from school, Ayaka telling (Y/N) about Horie-kun from her class who she thinks is cute and nice to look at but always makes a mean insult about her teeth. (Y/N) was just listening, but that made her a little bit angry, and she let it slip that ‘<em>why do you call boys who are mean to you cute? In the first place, why do you keep liking boys who are mean to you?</em>’. And Ayaka, bless her heart, giggled. ‘<em>Silly</em>,’ (Y/N) remembered her saying. ‘<em>You know boys who say mean things to you do that because they like you. Boys will be boys, after all</em>.’ (Y/N) also remembered herself feeling dumbfounded, then angry. ‘<em>What</em>,’ she remembered herself saying, ‘<em>when I like a girl, I try to act extra kind to her</em>.’ It was Ayaka’s turn to be dumbfounded. ‘<em>(Y/N), you like girls?</em>’</p>
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          <p>(Y/N) doesn’t exactly remember what happened next. She did remember feeling extremely flustered and stuttered before she ran away, leaving Ayaka, with the rabbit-toothed girl calling after her to no avail. Okay, so maybe that was (Y/N) fault. Fully. <em>Now I’m losing my best friend of eighteen years</em>, (Y/N) thinks, as she puts on her shoes and opens the front door.</p>
        </div>
        <div class="button-1ZiXG9">
          <p>‘(Y/N)!’</p>
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    <p>Y/N) may be going insane. Is she missing Ayaka so much to the point of hallucinating and hearing her voice?</p>
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  <div class="contents-2mQqc9">
    <p>‘(Y/N)! Look at me! I’m real! It’s me, Ayaka!’</p>
  </div>
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    <p>Huh. There is Ayaka, in the flesh, with their school’s summer uniform in front of (Y/N)’s house gate.</p>
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  <div class="contents-2mQqc9">
    <p>‘(Y/N),’ Ayaka says again. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to avoid you, I swear. I just didn’t know how to act around you after- after what you told me.’</p>
  </div>
  <div class="contents-2mQqc9">
    <p>(Y/N) closes the house gate, her mouth opening dumbly. ‘Huh?’</p>
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    <p>‘Stop saying huh. You’re not a snail seller,’ Ayaka chides. ‘Also, I have something for you.’</p>
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    <p>‘Huh?’ (Y/N) says again, dumbly. ‘Huh?’</p>
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    <p>‘I said, stop saying huh! You’re not a snail seller!’ Ayaka half-yells, opening her bag and taking out something from inside it. ‘I know you probably forget, knowing you, but happy birthday! You know I like you, no matter if you like boys or girls, right?’</p>
  </div>
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    <p>(Y/N) is still opening her mouth dumbly, her brain not processing what’s happening at all. ‘Huh. My... birthday?’</p>
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    <p>‘Yeah! It’s 19th of July, silly! I know you’d forget,’ Ayaka says, her smile fond. ‘Open it! You know I’m super terrible at electronics, right... but I did my greatest trying to make it look cute. I hope you’ll use it and think of me whenever!’</p>
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    <p>(Y/N) receives the package, which, if she’s being honest, is horribly packaged. Clumsy Ayaka and her nonexistent packaging skill. (Y/N) opens it, still a little dumbstruck. ‘Huh, what’s this?’</p>
  </div>
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    <p>From the package, (Y/N) retrieves a... mug? It was a mostly-white mug, if not for the photos of people that (Y/N) doesn’t fully register yet around it.</p>
  </div>
  <div class="contents-2mQqc9">
    <p>‘Yay! It’s cute, right! I put photos of you, Sasaki-senpai, and Miipan on it, because I figured they’re probably the girls that you probably like at the moment. I said I’ll support you forever whoever you like, right, and I mean it!’ Ayaka says, a huge smile adorning her face, looking terribly pleased with her own work.</p>
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    <p></p>
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      <p>(Y/N) is sure her face fell a little, but Ayaka isn’t the brightest crayon in the box anyways. ‘Thanks,’ (Y/N) says, ‘I appreciate it a lot.’</p>
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      <p>‘Uh-huh! You know, (Y/N), I’ve said it already and you’re probably sick of it at this point, but you’re my bestest best friend ever! And I’m gonna support you. You just have to ask, I’ll be honoured to your maid of honour when you eventually marry either Sasaki-senpai or Miipan!’ Ayaka says, the nail in the proverbial coffin. With her crush looking so terribly pleased about it, (Y/N) doesn’t have a heart to tell her she’s wrong. <em>Oh, how wrong she was.</em></p>
    </div>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. leap of faith - mirei/reader</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sasaki Mirei is a member of one of the most popular girl groups in Japan, Hinatazaka46, who are not actually rookies and barely seniors. She isn’t the center, nor the member people think of when the name Hinatazaka46 is mentioned, but is still a member of the nation’s girl group all the same. With that being said, winning her ticket for a handshake event is a competition of its own, and you need more than just luck to get a slot.</p><p>Enter: (Y/N). She’s been a fan of Hinatazaka46 since their semi-trainee-but-not-really days, before they were known as Hinatazaka46 but as something else, when the promise of being a group of their own was just a promise with no expiration date. Being a fan from somewhere far, though, (Y/N) never got the chance to see Hinatazaka46, or Mirei, in the flesh even with all those years of stanning under her belt. It was always Hinatazaka46 in pixels, 1080p on very good days, 360p when her internet provider was being a major pain in the ass - which is nearly everyday. So, it’s through a stroke of extremely good luck, perhaps, that (Y/N) is on a trip in Tokyo when it’s announced that they’re holding a national handshake event for Hinatazaka46 in Tokyo - right when (Y/N) is there.</p><p>“Oh my god,” (Y/N) says, for the nth time that afternoon. Her friend, a normal person with no interest in girl groups, sighs at that. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just, I never thought this sort of thing would happen to me, you know!”</p><p>“I know. You’ve said that more than ten times.” Her friend, a normal person with no interest in girl groups, said. Her friend is a normal person with interest in boy groups, though. “But they haven’t announced the lottery and all, right?”</p><p>It’s (Y/N)’s turn to sigh. “Yeah, that’s right. I’m being too excited in advance, haha. Knowing my luck--”</p><p>“You don’t have any luck whatsoever.”</p><p>(Y/N) continues on, grinning half-bitterly. “--my lack of luck, forget getting a slot - I’d probably somehow lose my money on the way while getting the album.”</p><p>Enter: (Y/N)’s extremely normal friend who has no interest in girl groups but boy groups, who has the luck of someone who can survive being shot in the chest, getting a ticket when she was buying Hinatazaka46’s single on (Y/N)’s stead.</p><p>“I think I may have fought and won something for a country in my past life,” (Y/N)’s friend says, still in disbelief herself. “Why didn’t this happen when I’m buying something for myself? Rather than getting a Hinata ticket I’d rather get JO1’s.”</p><p>“I don’t even know how to thank you, holy shit.” (Y/N), too, is still in disbelief. “I never thought this would happen. Of course not to me, because that was your hand that got the album, but holy shit. I thought this would only happen in movies and fanfiction.”</p><p>Her friend grins, all mischievous lines and playful. “I will not ask you to pay me back because I’m your best friend,” she starts, and (Y/N) already prepares to buy a star in her friend’s name, even when she knows buying stars is loads of bullshit. Either that or build a shrine for her. Whichever works. “Anyway. We’re gonna be taking our plane back home in like, two days after the handshake event, right? And we know this handshake event wasn’t in our Tokyo itinerary, right, and I remember you saying you didn’t exactly bring your better clothes because we’re going on a trip for Akihabara so nothing anything shareable in social media-- anyway, my point is, you don’t bring clothes that don’t look like they’ve been put out in the sun for twenty days straight, right? What ever will you wear to the event? Can’t have you wearing gunny sack-like clothes to meet the girls of your dreams, obviously.”</p><p>Oh.</p><p>(Y/N) is screwed. So, <em> so </em>, screwed.</p><p>*</p><p>As the day of the handshake event approaches, (Y/N) is hit with the realization that her wardrobe is extremely, <em> pitifully </em> lacking. Of course, this is not a new realization at all. Her friend has mentioned in passing multiple times but (Y/N) always brushes it off, thinking how the money for good clothes can be used for not just mobame but also the incidental magazine photoshoots that the Hinatazaka46 members like to appear in. Not like she has anyone to show her good clothes to. As the saying goes, regret does come too late.</p><p>In the hopes of gaining Mirei's attention, and to not become just another passing fan, (Y/N) musters up the courage to step inside a high-end department store and spend the remaining bit of money in her debit card on clothes that she would usually never come close to on a daily basis. The last skirt she ever wore was her mandatory high school uniform's, yet here she is now, in front of the mirror, an hour before the gates open, staring at the way the skirt makes her butt look saggy despite the attendant promising that it would accentuate her curves. Not that (Y/N) has any to begin with.</p><p>But it's <em> fine </em> , (Y/N) will prevail. It's her <em> hands </em> that will be touching Mirei's, not her washboard ass. </p><p>With great difficulty, (Y/N) manages to penguin-walk through the throng of foul-smelling men surrounding the venue, spritzing air freshener all the while. She only uses up two cans in the end, three less than the five in her handbag.</p><p>
  <em> Ding! </em>
</p><p>The phone in (Y/N)'s hand lights up with a notification. </p><p>
  <em> Have u entered the venue yet? </em>
</p><p>(Y/N) shoots off a quick reply, <em> I've successfully entered the testosterone pit. I think my allergies are acting up. </em></p><p>
  <em> ㅋㅋㅋ deserve </em>
</p><p>(Y/N) rolls her eyes and stuffs her phone in her bag. Then, in a moment of anxiety, she fishes it out again and types, <em> Do you think Miipan will be happy to see me? </em></p><p>
  <em> Who are you, her mom? You already win by default by being a girl in a sea of smelly men. </em>
</p><p>Faintly reassured, (Y/N) continues her way in, shoving through a crowd of ojii-sans, some in business suits and others in typical wota-like garb, as she heads for Mirei's line.</p><p>*</p><p>It's time. The moment she's been waiting for all her life. The last time she experienced this abundance of both excitement and dread was when she stayed up all night for a week voting for her Korean survival show pick. (Y/N) almost breaks into cold sweat then and there as the line moves forward, and she lathers her hand with another big dollop of hand sanitizer then tops it off with hand cream, just in case. Can’t have Mirei’s first impression of her be of her sweaty, smelly hands.</p><p>Heart beating twice as fast in her chest, she feels like her ribcage will burst any minute now. (Y/N) takes one step forward, then another, and suddenly the world goes quiet, there's nothing left in her peripheries but the sight of Mirei, in the flesh, skin as white as snow, long eyelashes fluttering with the slightest tilt of her head. </p><p><em> Is this actually happening? </em> (Y/N) thinks. <em> How is this all real?  </em></p><p>(Y/N) barely notices the bodyguard? Attendant? Motioning her to step up, her vision is stuck to Mirei and Mirei only, the world around her fading away as she registers the sound of Mirei's voice greeting her. </p><p>"Hi! It's so nice to see you! I’ve never seen you before, is this your first handshake event with us?”</p><p>Mirei lets (Y/N) take her hands between her own, and (Y/N) feels like she's containing the universe in the palm of her hands.</p><p>"H-hello, my name is (Y/N)," (Y/N) curses herself as she stutters. Her grip on Mirei's hand grows tighter, and if Mirei minds, she doesn't show it at all. What a pro idol. "I… I know I'm just a fan! But I've been supporting you guys for years… before you were even Hinatazaka!"</p><p>(Y/N)'s soul almost leaves her body after that. Just mustering up the willpower to talk to Mirei without tripping over her words takes ten years out of her life. </p><p>(Y/N) sees a tinge of pink appearing on Mirei's lovely cheeks, knows her face must be worse off. </p><p>"Thank you," Mirei beams, and cannons go off in (Y/N)'s head. In the distance, wedding bells are ringing.</p><p>"No, no, thank <em> you, </em>" (Y/N) whispers. (Y/N) rummages for a pen and the freshly printed documents from her bag, "If-- if you can just sign your name on these papers here, we'd be legally wedded wiv--"</p><p>"That's enough of that." The bodyguard steps in and pushes (Y/N) back, and her cursed skirt decides to act out right then and there as she twists her leg and falls on her ass in front of Mirei, the bodyguard, at least fifty male wotas, and God. </p><p>Mirei makes to help (Y/N) up, but is stopped by the bodyguard, her outstretched hand falling to her side. </p><p>"Your time is up," the bodyguard states. "Please make haste and leave the line."</p><p>(Y/N) shoots one last, longing, <em> desperate </em> look at Mirei, and yells, "I'll always be your fan no matter what!" before the next fan in line shoves her to the side. </p><p>*</p><p>When (Y/N) gets back to the hotel that night, feeling like she's been run over by a particular lovely and adorable tractor, her first order of business is to burn the wretched abomination that is the allegedly form fitting skirt-- but changes her mind at the last minute and decides to sell it off at a second-hand store.</p><p>(Y/N) takes a long, hot bath, making sure she doesn't wet her hands. She doesn't want to get rid of Mirei's touch just yet. Who knows when she'll get the chance to see her again? </p><p>Sighing, (Y/N) ponders the meaning of her lesbian life. If she wasn't put on this earth to love Mirei wholeheartedly, then what exactly is her purpose? </p><p>(Y/N) hopes she could at least leave a <em> small </em> impression on Mirei's mind. Well, falling on her ass in front of her probably did. But like, <em>small</em> and good impression.</p><p>As (Y/N) prepares for bed that night, her phone chimes with the ever so familiar ringtone of a new <em> mobame </em> post. Heart pounding, she grabs her phone and taps on Mirei's name, reading through her message with increasingly trembling hands, her pupils shaking just as much. </p><p>The <em> mobame </em>is short and concise. </p><p>
  <em> You're not just a fan to me ❤ </em>
</p><p>Oh. </p><p>That's--</p><p>OH <em> FUCK</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>we are not going to apologize for this. not to tbs anyway. we will apologize to the entire hinata fandom though. this is purely on us and not on tbs. what is friendship without embarrassing friends in front of hundreds of strangers ㅋㅋㅋ otanjobi omedetou tbs-san from kiwi &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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